Depends on what you mean by 'caught' Yrs ago in CA I lived in a rural area about 40 miles from the county HD office. I worked out of my home for several years when I decided to advertise in a little. local throw away magazine (PennySaver). One morning I got a phone call from a guy who said he was the HD. After much conversation he ended up saying I could do as much as I wanted by word of mouth and they would not bother me but do not advertise. Never heard another thing from them or anyone else & continued working out of my home for several more yrs before we moved away.

Yes, I have been caught. I gave a home made business card to friends that owned a snowball stand. They posted it outside so it can been seen. I got a lot of cake orders from that card. About a year or so later, I got a call. I lived in a small town with no bakeries other than grocery stores. It was from the health department. He asked me if I made cakes. I lied! I told him that I no longer made cakes and that a friend posted the card. I asked lots of questions about what I would have to do if I ever started baking again. Needless to say, I still bake from home! I was a little scared that I would have to pay fines and stuff so, now, I ask people not to post cards. 90% of my business is from word of mouth.

Yes, I was turned in. I was teaching Wilton classes, plus doing lots of cakes on the side. Some students of mine opened a business, but were having difficulty doing the more difficult stuff because they weren't very experienced. We started an arrangement where they would take the orders, bring the cakes to me and then I would decorate them. Unfortunately, this became increasingly difficult because they didn't want to "pay" me. They wanted to just give me product and this wasn't working for me. We had a number of "disagreements" and things started going south. I "resigned" and told them that I'd be happy to give them advice, but that I was no longer able to work for them. The next day I received a phone call from the HD asking whether I was doing cakes from my home! I was stunned and just stood there with my mouth wide open, going, "uuuhhhh.... I can't believe they did that!!" They informed me I could no longer do cakes from my home or I would be fined. These ladies actually took credit for turning me in, and notified me that they also forwarded my website to the IRS and that they had "friends" who would be "checking" on me to make sure I wouldn't be taking any more cake orders. My car was vandalized that week and I lost a tire while driving down the freeway with my kids and 3 nieces and nephews in the suburban... any guesses who may've done that?!

I also know of at least 4 others in my area that were turned in... not from the same people.

But hey, I got the last laugh... I opened a business and before I'd been in business 6 months, the other ladies no longer were!

i do sell from home, but in a detached garage. I have had people call fishing for specific information and I always "wondered" if they weren't friends of people wanting to start a biz and trying to find illegals... I know plenty of illegals in my surrounding area.. I don't bash anyone for trying to make money in the economy.

On another note, you are able to sell goods from your home in some places. For instance, Ohio has the cottage law.

edited to say, I have been licensed through the local HD and the state & county business licence offices

After reading many posts I decided to wait until I had the HD give me the ok to sell baked goods from my home. it was painless and I enoy the feeling of being "legal"... but it did come with a cost. I needed a new dishwasher (commercial grade). Other than that in MA you don't need a lic to sell baked goods or canned goods. I am also getting a Lic...just because it feels good to have.

I haven't been caught but lately I've been recieving (sp) a bunch of email and calls from people who "found me on the web" asking for things like disney characters, transformers, etc. It didn't seem right so I told them I don't bake.

I'm working on becoming legal now so I don't have to turn down orders and worry about stuff like this.

i personally think it's a disgrace for anyone to turn in someone for baking in their home just because.................. if these people had a real life of their own they wouldn't be so interested in anyone else's!!

i personally think it's a disgrace for anyone to turn in someone for baking in their home just because.................. if these people had a real life of their own they wouldn't be so interested in anyone else's!!

i have not turned anyone in, AND i am currently unlicensed but going through the process of becoming legal...all that being said, you can bet that if i went into a "business" that is operating illegally or legally either one, and they had lax hygiene standards that could jeapordize the public's health, I WOULD CALL IN ON THEM....AND I DO HAVE A LIFE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

bleach, towels and rat poison can all be purchased at the dollar store for less than $5. there is no excuse for uncleanliness. THAT IS THE TRUE DISGRACE!

You can look in this thread to see if using your home kitchen (and by that I mean using the same kitchen you cook your family's food in) to bake goods for the general public is allowed in your state. Most of the states have information, but if yours doesn't then you can call your local Department of Agriculture or Department of Health and Human Services and find out.

i personally think it's a disgrace for anyone to turn in someone for baking in their home just because.................. if these people had a real life of their own they wouldn't be so interested in anyone else's!!

I agree - I think it's disgusting for people to turn someone in for no good reason. I would never, ever do that to someone. I believe in Karma!

I am not legal and until I decide that is the direction I want to go, any and all of my cakes have been given away. Some people have insisted on giving me something. But the most I have gotten is $40 for a cake that should have cost around $250!

As a Christian I am told to live by the laws of the land EVEN IF they are not what I would like. I just can not justify the money coming in and the shame of doing something illegal.

But I also know of a bunch of home bakers here where it is illegal and I would not turn them in. That is something they are going to have to wrestle with themselves... unless their place becomes nasty and a health hazard. Then I would tell them, give them some time and offer my help to clean up or I would call the HD. You don't mess around with a person's health.

i have not turned anyone in, AND i am currently unlicensed but going through the process of becoming legal...all that being said, you can bet that if i went into a "business" that is operating illegally or legally either one, and they had lax hygiene standards that could jeapordize the public's health, I WOULD CALL IN ON THEM....AND I DO HAVE A LIFE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

bleach, towels and rat poison can all be purchased at the dollar store for less than $5. there is no excuse for uncleanliness. THAT IS THE TRUE DISGRACE![/quote]

Like I said earlier "just because"..........not for the reasons you stated obviously!

i personally think it's a disgrace for anyone to turn in someone for baking in their home just because.................. if these people had a real life of their own they wouldn't be so interested in anyone else's!!

i have not turned anyone in, AND i am currently unlicensed but going through the process of becoming legal...all that being said, you can bet that if i went into a "business" that is operating illegally or legally either one, and they had lax hygiene standards that could jeapordize the public's health, I WOULD CALL IN ON THEM....AND I DO HAVE A LIFE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

bleach, towels and rat poison can all be purchased at the dollar store for less than $5. there is no excuse for uncleanliness. THAT IS THE TRUE DISGRACE!

I think that's completely different that just doing it to be spiteful. It's not the same thing...

i have not turned anyone in, AND i am currently unlicensed but going through the process of becoming legal...all that being said, you can bet that if i went into a "business" that is operating illegally or legally either one, and they had lax hygiene standards that could jeapordize the public's health, I WOULD CALL IN ON THEM....AND I DO HAVE A LIFE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

bleach, towels and rat poison can all be purchased at the dollar store for less than $5. there is no excuse for uncleanliness. THAT IS THE TRUE DISGRACE![/quote]

Like I said earlier "just because"..........not for the reasons you stated obviously!

Yes, I was turned in. I was teaching Wilton classes, plus doing lots of cakes on the side. Some students of mine opened a business, but were having difficulty doing the more difficult stuff because they weren't very experienced. We started an arrangement where they would take the orders, bring the cakes to me and then I would decorate them. Unfortunately, this became increasingly difficult because they didn't want to "pay" me. They wanted to just give me product and this wasn't working for me. We had a number of "disagreements" and things started going south. I "resigned" and told them that I'd be happy to give them advice, but that I was no longer able to work for them. The next day I received a phone call from the HD asking whether I was doing cakes from my home! I was stunned and just stood there with my mouth wide open, going, "uuuhhhh.... I can't believe they did that!!" They informed me I could no longer do cakes from my home or I would be fined. These ladies actually took credit for turning me in, and notified me that they also forwarded my website to the IRS and that they had "friends" who would be "checking" on me to make sure I wouldn't be taking any more cake orders. My car was vandalized that week and I lost a tire while driving down the freeway with my kids and 3 nieces and nephews in the suburban... any guesses who may've done that?!

I also know of at least 4 others in my area that were turned in... not from the same people.

But hey, I got the last laugh... I opened a business and before I'd been in business 6 months, the other ladies no longer were!

J-Pal, when I was taking my WIlton classes there was a young lady subbing for the regular instructor for two weeks while she recovered from some surgery. Anyway, the girl was telling us she bakes from home and she wasn't legal (this was GA). This one woman is furiously writing down this girl's info, website, etc. Well turned out that woman actually worked at the HD and turned her in. It made for a thrilling final class in Gumpaste and Fondant which went flying.

Um, being Christian has absolutely nothing to do with abiding by federal, state and county laws.

That's actually not true....A Christian who follows the bible knows that we are to follow all the laws of the land. Breaking laws is unchristian-like. While you won't lose your faith for being a sinner we are all to strive for sinless lives - this includes not breaking the law.

So, following this logically and not emotionally, doing something that's illegal to make money because this economy sucks is OK?

So, can I bake cakes but not sell drugs?

How about reselling goods on Ebay that I suspect (but don't know for sure) were stolen from a local merchant?

Just wondering where that line is between the OK illegal activity and the bad illegal activity that several of you seem to know.

For the record I started out with, for lack of a long, drawn-out explanation, a mini-HD license that didn't permit cakes. I got caught and had to upgrade my license. And I got caught in the first two weeks.

In my world this stuff is actually pretty simple. Illegal is illegal. You can choose to not obey the law, but if you do that and get caught you suffer the consequences. I did. Getting my kitchen upgraded to pass the full license inspection cost some $. Not a tremendous amount but a coupla thousand.